Robert Schulte, MSW Bob attributes a recommendation from Mary Dluhy in 1998 that he attend a performance of ‘Art’ as the transformative moment in the creation of the Red Well Theater Group. Four years later Bob directed a dramatic reading of ‘Art’ at the Fall 2002 MAGPS Conference. Thus began a decade of dramatic play readings, study groups and workshops. He is grateful to his RWTG colleagues for their talent, therapeutic sensibilities and courage. Bob is a Past President of MAGPS, a faculty member at the Washington School of Psychiatry National Group Psychotherapy Institute and a clinical instructor at the GW University Department of Psychiatry. He maintains a psychotherapy practice in Alexandria, VA.

Kavita Avula, Psy.D. Kavita specializes in international and cross-cultural psychology, serving as a consultant for coordinated trauma responses around the globe. Her adventure with RWTG began in Northern Ireland, where she delivered a bravura performance as strong willed, young Bo Groden in Off the Map. A versatile and adventurous actress, Kavita has portrayed an array of clinically complex characters, including a psychopathic teenage Kathy in Dog Sees God, a 30-something, lovelorn Becky in Becky Shaw, a soul-searching Paige in The Great God Pan and later as eating disordered Joelle.

Maryetta Andrews-Sachs, MA, CGP Maryetta was cast as the ‘dumb blonde’ in her high school senior play and proudly served as the head majorette for the Flushing, MI marching band. “I was also Homecoming Queen for my high school—a true celebration of my then ‘false self’!” Her moving portrayal of plucky Arlene in Off the Map vastly expanded her range beyond her humble origins as a “dumb blonde”. Maryetta also appeared as a grieving Becca in Rabbit Hole, the certifiable Van’s Sister in Dog Sees God, and long-suffering Annette in God of Carnage. Maryetta is the President of the Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society (2013-15), faculty and past-Chair of the WSP Group Psychotherapy Training Program. She maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Washington, D.C.

Upon returning from our Open Session presentation at the 2014 American Group Psychotherapy Association Annual Meeting, the actors were scheduled to begin reflective writing about the process of preparing their roles for The Great God Pan. Looking back, I remember when I originally introduced the task to the actors they were decidedly cool to the idea. I initially accepted that reaction as normative for actor types who prefer the spoken, rather than the written, word. But their collective ambivalence continued, with no postings submitted for the blog by the agreed upon timeline. Hmm…

In the spring issue of the AGPA Group Circle Newsletter I wrote an article about our creative process, stating that a “unique feature of the rehearsal process is the inevitability that the drama will get under our skin—and inside our hearts and minds and even our souls. We unconsciously start feeling, thinking and relating to each other in ways that resemble the characters and their torment.”

Members and guest artists of the Red Well Theater Group contribute to the scholarly advancement of group therapy through published writing and presentations at professional meetings and conferences. Listed below are some of the most recent contributions of our members.

This article was the Institute Plenary Address at the American Group Psychotherapy Association’s annual Institute and Conference in February 2013, “Overcoming Obstacles: The Power of the Group,” in New Orleans. The Institute’s two-day groups, led by experienced instructors, were devoted to small group teaching, both experiential and didactic.

Dluhy, M., Rubenfeld, S. & Saiger, G. (2008). Windows into Today’s Group Therapy: The National Group Psychotherapy Institute of the Washington School of Psychiatry. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

This volume is a collection of papers by the WSP National Group Psychotherapy Institute members and reflects the mission and recent research and developments of the Institute. Originally delivered by faculty members and visiting presenters at the Washington School of Psychiatry, they represent the various vertices from which modern group psychotherapy can be studied.

This article introduces the work of the Red Well Theater Group. The authors elaborate the Group’s model through a production of the play Off the Map by Joan Ackermann, as presented at the Thirteenth Annual Northern Ireand Group Psychotherapy Conference in 2010.

This paper invites the reader into the world of Lacan and his analytic ideas most relevant to dynamic group therapy through a workshop presentation of the stage play ‘Art’, by Yasmina Reza, as performed by the Red Well Theater Group. The presentation format features a dramatic reading followed by a moderated discussion with the audience, actors and director.”

This article describes the preparation process for the Red Well Theater Group’s Open Session presentation of The Great God Pan at the 2014 AGPA Annual Meeting.

Schulte, R. Lovett, H., Rice, C., Williams, R. (In Press, 2014). The Power of the Group in Northern Ireland. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 64 (4), 467-491.

The authors report on the 14th and final convening of the Boston-Threshold Group’s annual Northern Ireland Group Psychotherapy Conference, It Can Be Done: The Power of the Group to Bear the Unbearable. They provide cultural context and leadership perspectives on the history of the conference and the planning of its final meeting. Associations to the opening plenary presentation of the play Rounding Third, by Richard Dresser, as performed by the Red Well Theater Group, link themes of power sharing, trauma, containment and hope to the here-and-now experience of the conference participants.

The author discusses scene sharing and scene stealing, considering the role of values in judging behavior as selfish or unselfish… By considering values an important aspect of group therapy, the therapist is alert to the possible impingement of ones’ own or the group’s values on the process.

Segalla, Rosemary. (2014). Relational experiences in large group: A Therapeutic and training challenge. In The One and the Many: Relational Approaches to Group Psychotherpay. Edited by R. Grossmark and F. Wright. London: Routledge.

The author discusses the realistic potential of taking a new look at the large group, through the lens of a hermeneutics of trust, rather than suspicion, done in the service of developing authentic dialogue and relational experience.

Members of the Red Well Theater Group support group therapy training through faculty participation and scholarship support. To learn more about group therapy training opportunities, visit the websites of these outstanding organizations:

Washington School of Psychiatry / National Group Psychotherapy Institute

“The Institute offers a two-year program of six intensive group weekends (Friday – Saturday), each conference focusing on different aspects of group life, including various contemporary approaches to group psychotherapy. Each weekend offers multiple opportunities within the faculty/member community for mutual learning.” WSP/NGPI brochure.

Looking for something specific?

P.S. Baber, Cassie Draws the Universe

“The stage is a magic circle where only the most real things happen, a neutral territory outside the jurisdiction of Fate where stars may be crossed with impunity. A truer and more real place does not exist in all the universe.”

Oscar Wilde

"I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being."